Charlie helped Vaggie train for a couple of hours, finally deciding to take a break as lunch time rolled around. The two girls giggled as they made their way up to Angel's room, hoping to ask Angel if Husk wanted anything to eat or drink given that they knew the man hadn't eaten anything since lunch the day before. As they came out of the elevator, they nearly tripped over Nifty as she scuttled towards the elevator.
"Whoa, whoa, Nifty!" Vaggie called, "Slow down, where's the fire?" "Husk is the fire," Nifty panted, clearly unnerved by something, "Angel couldn't get ahold of either of you, so he came down and got me. I said I'd help if I could but… it's bad… really bad. I'm not getting paid nearly enough for this shit!"
"Alright, take it easy," Charlie urged, kneeling down and patting the shaken demon's shoulder to try to calm her down, "What did Angel ask you to do?" Nifty made a few grunting noises, looking around and made a strange motion with her hands that Charlie couldn't quite figure out. Fortunately, Vaggie did. "Drink. He's asking for alcohol."
"Nifty, that's a horrible idea," Charlie groaned, "Husk's trying to cut back, why would he ask for booze?" "Because… he's in pain! Duh!" Nifty snapped, "Angel's too freaked out to think straight, Husk can't really talk, and I… don't have any better ideas!" And with that, the little cyclops dashed into the elevator, jumping up and hitting the down button to head down to the ground floor, presumably to grab Husk a bottle of booze from the bar.
"This isn't good," Charlie sighed, "Husk's already had one backslide. Sure, it wasn't anything too major, but we shouldn't encourage him to drink more. There's got to be something else we can do." "I'm not so sure he did backslide," Vaggie hummed, "That shattered bottle… there had to have been a lot left given how much was on the floor."
"Maybe he was going to and just… I don't know, threw the bottle away to stop himself?" Charlie proposed. "Maybe," Vaggie shrugged, "But, you are right about one thing, alcohol is not the answer; especially since, well, frankly I don't think it'd do him any good right now." Charlie gave a heavy sigh and nodded. "So… what should we do?" Charlie asked, "There's gotta be something we can do to help Husk."
Vaggie nodded, grabbing Charlie's hand and led her to Angel's room. Charlie took a deep breath, lifted her hand and knocked on the door. "Angel, are you in there?" Charlie called, "It's me, Charlie. I'm here with Vaggie. Nifty said there was trouble?" Angel quickly shuffled out of the room, nearly knocking the girls over before shutting his bedroom door and saying in a harsh whisper, "Where the fuck have you two been? I tried calling both of you like twenty times before I resorted to Nifty. You said you'd help if we needed anything, and, we definitely… definitely need your help now."
"Angel, we're so sorry," Charlie apologized, "We were up on the roof, I-I was helping Vaggie train, and I guess we just… I don't know." Vaggie put her hand on Charlie's shoulder, looking up at Angel she said, "What matters is that we're here now." "Try telling that to Husk," Angel huffed, "Not that he'd be able to respond. All he can do right now is moan and groan and," Angel was cut off by a loud, low, broken moan; the group instantly recognized it as Husk, clearly in pain, "And that." Angel sighed, rubbing his eyes in exhaustion and said, "Look, if you gals got any ideas, let's hear 'em. 'Cuz I'm… t-t-this is way more than I was ready for, alright? I knew this wasn't going to be fun, but… goddamn!"
"Angel, we're here, and we're here to help," Vaggie urged, "Just take a deep breath, alright, just try to calm down." Angel took several deep breaths, trying to relax a bit as Vaggie nudged him out of the way and gently knocked on the door. "Husk, it's me. I'm coming in."
"Whoa, whoa, wait," Angel said grabbing Vaggie's arm, "He ain't decent." Vaggie rolled her eye and huffed, pulling her arm away and walked inside Angel's room. Angel and Charlie quickly followed her in and their hearts sank when they saw Husk. He was sprawled out on Angel's bed, quivering and sobbing as the pain came and went in waves.
Vaggie slowly and carefully sat down on the edge of the bed next to Husk, keeping her eyes fixed on his face as she placed a gentle hand on the cat demon's shoulder to get his attention. Husk let out a strangled groan, shivering at Vaggie's touch as he slowly opened one eye to look at her; his wings twitched as he tried to cover himself up more, but they refused to budge as the pain had made them stiff and unbearable to move. Husk's face took on a deep pink blush as he realized he was stuck, feeling scared and exposed as this was way more of himself than he ever wanted anyone to see, but the pain made it impossible to do anything about.
"Hey, it's alright," Vaggie whispered, "We're here to help." Husk just whimpered, shutting his eyes tight and trying once again to pull his wings back to cover himself, letting out an agonized cry as the muscles in his shoulders and at the base of his wings spasmed. His tail flailed as the chimera buried his face into the mattress, trying to muffle the sounds of his sobs.
Vaggie moved over as Angel came by and took her place on the bed, gingerly placing his middle right hand on the small of Husk's back and the top one on the back of Husk's head. The spider demon made soft hushing sounds as he ran his fingers through Husk's hair with his top hand while the other rubbed his back in slow, soothing circles. It was obvious that this didn't do anything to ease the cat's pain, but at least it seemed to comfort and calm him.
Charlie came over and picked up the blanket from Husk's room off the edge of the mattress before climbing onto the bed. Fat Nuggets snorted as Charlie picked him up and moved him over a little bit before folding the blanket in half and carefully draping over Husk's pelvis, making sure to leave the rest of him uncovered. Husk felt the blood drain from his cheeks a little bit as he felt the blanket come down to cover him; he shivered and let out a tiny squeak as he tried to talk.
He looked up at Charlie as she climbed off the bed and came around to where he could see her without having to turn his head, giving a tiny smile and whispered, "Thank… you." Charlie gave Husk a big smile and nodded, kneeling down and gently patting his shoulder. Vaggie let out a sigh and knelt down next to Charlie, clearing her throat to get Husk's attention before asking softly, "What can we do to help?"
"M-muscles," Husk whined, "Whole body… throbbing. I… I need something… to dull the pain… even just a little." Husk's skin seemed to twitch as he let out another broken sob, turning his face away from the group as he moaned, "Why didn't I take that fucking bottle? I'm such a… a fucking idiot. Damn it, Alastor." Charlie, Vaggie and Angel exchanged a surprised look as they realized what Husk was saying, their hearts breaking as Husk let out a distressed cry and a groan. "The one time I say 'no' to his offer to 'help me' and… and this… this is what I get."
"No, Husk," Charlie insisted, "You did the right thing. I know it doesn't seem like it, but… I'm proud of you. That had to be hard." Husk nodded, whimpering as another wave of pain washed over him. "You're going to be just fine, Husk," Charlie promised, "I know you're in a lot of pain. But, we're going to help you however we can. Okay?" "We won't let anything happen to you," Vaggie added, "We promise."
"That goes double for me," Angel pipped, "I'm sorry I freaked out earlier; I guess I just… got a bit overwhelmed. But I told you before that you'd be safe with me, and I meant it. You could've abandoned me about a dozen times over at this point… but you didn't, so… I'm not about to abandon you, Husky." Husk gave a weak half-smile, shaking as his eyes teared up in a mix of pain and happiness, letting his body relax as much as possible as a sense of relief came over him, putting his mind at ease. Husk nodded and carefully inched his hand out towards Angel's leg; the spider gently placed his middle left and over Husk's, making sure not to apply any real pressure as he wrapped his fingers around Husk's hand.
"So," Angel sighed, "Where should we start?" Everyone jumped as the bedroom door flew open and Nifty dashed in with a bottle of whiskey. "I've got the booze," Nifty panted, "Brand new bottle, too; I even uncorked it for you. Anything you don't want, I'll gladly finish." "Uh, thanks Nifty." Angel turned to the girls questioningly; the spider let out a gasp as he felt Husk's hand move to hold his hand, squeezing it softly as a strained but audible 'no' escaped his throat. Angel smiled and gently squeezed Husk's hand back, letting him know that he understood. "Thanks a lot, Niff," Angel said with a smile, "But, I don't think we'll be needing that anymore."
"Are you kidding me?" Nifty's face scrunched up into a disgruntled scowl as she let out a long, irritated sigh and she said, "Fine. More for me." Angel and the girls just turned and shrugged, about to let Nifty trot off to chug away when Husk said, "Somebody… had better go take that booze away from her. Don't care… if you gotta… lock it away along with the rest of the bar. Just get it before you got another alcoholic on your hands." "Not it!" Angel shouted. Charlie turned to Vaggie and the two just stared at each other for a minute before Vaggie finally let out a sigh, stood up and said, "Fine. I'll go get her. Nifty! Come back here with that!"